Redemption - A Darla Gray Novel Read online

  Three dark figures in the alleyway opposite drew his attention, snapping his thoughts away from Darla. Their whole persona screamed trouble of the worst kind. Instinct told him these weren’t the usual standard of petty lawbreakers that so commonly frequented this part of town, these men moved with organised precision and purpose.

  Pitying the recipient of their deadly intent, Quinn continued to watch unobserved as one by one they broke cover of the shadows, silently making their way towards the entrance of his building.

  Now, more than intrigued but for a different reason he lent forward, peering over the edge of the building just in time to witness the leader of the trio glance nervously behind. For just one second the light from the doorway illuminated his face, but it was all it took to reveal to Quinn what they were.

  Death-seekers!

  Quinn and inhaled sharply his stomach roiling at the now detectable scent. If the glowing red eyes of the leader hadn’t been enough to convince him of what they were, then the pervading scent of decay that surrounded them only served to confirm it. But what could have brought them this far from home? Alarm bells began to ring and a dark sense of foreboding settled over him.

  Blinking twice he dematerialised from the roofs ledge, appearing in the shadowed alcove at the end of the hallway leading to his apartment. Blending into the shadows he waited patiently, hoping above all that his intuition had steered him wrong.

  He didn’t have to wait long before his instincts were confirmed.

  Unaware of the silent observer the three figures crept from the stairwell, cautiously checking that the hallway was empty before proceeding. Quinn silently stepped back sinking further into the darkness. Bastards would pay for this!

  Knowing he was out numbered he remained still, fighting his rising fury. His best advantage to even the odds was the element of surprise, a trait that worked hand in hand with patients. Not one of his strong points! He’d always been more of the guns ho’ kill em’ all kind of guy, but that approach would leave Darla unprotected if they managed to take him down. Clenching his teeth together he held back with a new found restraint.

  Stopping in front of Quinn’s apartment the leader pressed his ear to the door before inserting something into the keyhole, silently tripping the lock. Sliding open the door he signalled for the other two to follow him in. Quinn knew that due to the narrow design of the interior- a design that had featured strongly in his decision to buy the apartment - they had no choice but to follow single file.

  Blinking twice he materialised directly behind the third man bringing up the rear. Sensing a presence the man turned, his eyes widening with shock. In an instant Quinn snapped his neck, lowering him silently to the floor, his attention already fixed on the other two.

  Stepping over the lifeless body he hugged the wall preparing to strike as they emerged into the room ahead of him. Without turning, the leader raised his hand sending a silent signal to his henchmen to check the bathroom while he headed towards the gap in the bedroom door, blissfully unaware of the fate that had already befallen of one of his team.

  Thoughts of Darla lying vulnerable in his bed made it easy for Quinn to decide which one died next. Gliding his knife from the hidden sheath attached to his calf he silently stalked the one in command. Grabbing the guy from behind Quinn arched his blade to strike. More adapt to the element of surprise than that of his dead accomplice, the death-seeker responded instantaneously by backing up, slamming Quinn hard against the wall.

  The noise of the attack signalled the return of the other assailant. Running out from the doorway opposite he raised his gun pointing it with a clear and deadly aim directly at Quinn. As the gun exploded, Quinn blinked twice.

  The death-seeker stood frozen as the bullet missed his intended target and ripped through the unsuspecting eye of his leader. Before he had a chance to respond to his error Quinn rematerialized directly before him plunging a knife full hilt into his chest. Shock and bewilderment reflected in the death-seekers face as he clutched at Quinn’s arm before slowly sinking to the floor.

  Coldly watching as the life drain from the last assailants body Quinn pulled his knife free, pausing long enough to wipe the blood soaked blade on the twitching body before turning his attention to the dead leader.

  He stopped dead when he noticed Darla framed in the doorway, her hair dishevelled from sleep and a look of pure terror covering her face. Her eyes darted rapidly back and forth between the assailant he had just stabbed and the one lying dead at her feet with a gaping hole where his eye had once been.

  Before he could explain the whispered sound of a familiar voice drew both of their stares towards the hallway. “Quinn?”

  Gingerly stepping over the lifeless body of the fallen death-seeker blocking Quinn’s hallway, Maisey cautiously edged along the wall, unsure of what awaited her at the end.

  “It’s okay, we’re in here Maisey.” Quinn called much to her welcome relief.

  Entering the room she quickly scanned the scene taking in the two other dead bodies. “I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but we have a problem.” She said pointedly starring at Quinn.

  Staring right back at her, dressed immaculately in the same outfit she had worn earlier, with the addition of a beautifully tailored raincoat tied tightly at the waist Quinn raised a bemused eyebrow. “You don’t fucking say!”

  Ignoring his sarcasm as well as the dead bodies, Maisey got straight down to business. Walking across to the kitchen counter she laid down and opened the slim line briefcase she was carrying and began removing an array of items. “We have an internal breech. The agents are dead!” she stated direct and to the point.

  “You’re kidding me right?” Quinn looked shocked. The look she gave him confirmed his answer. “Fuck!” Sweeping his gaze across to Darla, still stood frozen in the doorway, his brow puckered. “Who the hell are you?”

  “Good question?” answered Maisey, “but right now we don’t have the time, sugar…. heads up!” Quinn caught the mobile phone she tossed at him. “Phone’s clean. No chance of a trace, I cleared it myself.” A credit card followed next. “Card’s charged. Enter your code as the pin and it’ll activate immediately. Needless to say the names fake but the credits good.”

  Snapping the briefcase shut she turned to stare at an obviously frightened and confused Darla. “I need you to take her and disappear.” Maisey said addressing Quinn. “Get yourself some hired help. Someone you trust. You will need a friend to watch your back. This is serious shit Quinn. I’m sure you’re aware that it’s not just anyone that can take out an agent.

  ‘I have a parley arranged with Big G at thirteen hundred hours tomorrow.” Maisey glanced across at Quinn’s clock. “Make that today. Quinn you need to go dark, and don’t deal with anyone from the agency but me. No-one you hear? Until I find out what’s going on I don’t know who I can trust. Present company excluded of course.”

  Heading back out the door Maisey paused. “I’ll send a clean-up crew to deal with this.” Looking back over her shoulder her professional facade dropped just for an instant. “Quinn – you be careful.”

  Taken by her concern Quinn repaid her with a rare smile. “Always am darlin’. You just worry about keeping your own ass safe.”

  “Oh I’ll be fine sugar,” reciprocating with one of her amazing smiles, Maisey’s eyes lifted upwards. “Guardian angels don’t forget.”

  Discarding the dead bodies adorning the room Quinn moved towards Darla who was still standing in the doorway to the bedroom. “Get dressed. Fast!” he ordered, disappearing into the walk-in closet.

  Whether it was from fear of the killings she’d just witnessed or from a deep routed sense of survival, Darla responded without hesitation. Turning her back to the closet she quickly removed the borrowed t-shirt slipping back into her slightly damp blouse. Pulling her skirt on she decided to leave the boxers in place for modesty’s sake.

  Re-emerging from the closet with a rucksack in hand Quinn threw her a sweat jacket which she g
ratefully accepted whilst watching him kneel at the bottom of the bed. Punching some numbers into a keypad he opened up a large concealed safe drawer and began loading up with enough weapons to take on a small army.

  “Ready?” He asked once he’d finished. Fully armed, his eyes trawled her body for confirmation before gently pulling the hood of the sweat jacket over her head.

  Nervously nodding Darla followed him out carefully side stepping the dead man that lay across the doorway of the room. With the discovery of a third man laying inside the entrance hall her eyes widened, her only outward display of the fear she felt building inside her. Seeing her distress Quinn offered her his hand helping her to step over the dead body.

  “Just be grateful I noticed them first or that could have been either one of us lying there.” Keeping a firm grip on her now shaky hand he checked the hall before leading her across to the stairwell.

  Silently guiding them from the building Quinn stopped at every corner, checking to see if it was safe to proceed before moving on. With her hand clasped tightly in his Darla hurried alongside him, determined to keep apace. Adrenalin pumped through her body and her fear subsided until finally she was left with a number of unanswered questions that picked away at her patience.

  Several streets from the apartment and feeling a lot more at ease Darla could wait no longer. “Quinn who were those men in your apartment?”

  Without slowing and with his eyes checking all possible threats Quinn tightened his hold on her hand. “They weren’t men.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean? I know what I saw.”

  “Do you? Do you really?” Allowing himself a fleeting glance in her direction Quinn was grateful at how well the hood of his jacket concealing her face from prying eyes. “I told you once before Darla not everything in Redemption is as it seems.”

  Her brows furrowed. “So if they weren’t men then tell me, what were they?”

  “Death-seekers.”

  Sensing her uncertainty, Quinn sighed before manoeuvring her towards an empty doorway. His eyes quickly scanning the immediate area making sure they were safe, at least for the time being before he spoke.

  Tilting her gaze up to meet his he dropped his voice to little more than a whisper. “I’m gonna need you to listen to me, trust me, but most of all believe me, because if you don’t you’re gonna make it real hard for me to keep you alive. Do you understand?”

  Darla swallowed hard. “Yes,” she replied softly.

  “Those men – death-seekers – they are demons; The lowest form of demon to be more precise. Their only two passions in life are feeding off the dead and money. They’re not easily lured away from hell. So I’m figuring that someone has to have offered big bucks for you. What I need to find out is who that someone is and why they’re after you?”

  “I’m supposed to believe that those guys were demons sent from hell to harm me?”

  “I didn’t say ‘harm’ that was your words not mine.” Quinn could tell from her tone that she hadn’t believed a word that he’d said. Even after all that she had seen since arriving in Redemption, she still doubted him. “Look darlin’ I don’t have the time to waste convincing you. You need to wise up and except that there are things out there that you believed for all of your life to be myths, legends, stories or whatever the hell you wanna call them, but the truth is most of the things you’ve heard about are real- or at least have some basis in reality. I can absolutely guarantee that demons are real. Not necessarily how you perceive them, but they’re Goddamn real all the same. I really need you to start believing what I tell you or you’re not gonna survive where we’re heading.”

  “And where exactly is that?” She asked.

  “Sunny’s!”

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  Darla allowed herself to be dragged along through the endless alleyways, her mind a whirlwind of turmoil, trying desperately to make sense of all what Quinn had told her.

  Was it even remotely possible that everything he had told her was true?

  The tight, almost painful grip of his hand on the top her arm felt real enough. Her response to his kiss earlier had also felt real. Probably best not to dwell on that, she thought, casting a glance at him from the corner of her eye.

  As expected his face was a mask of discord once more. The rapid twitch in his jaw an instantly recognisable sign of how angry he was- again!

  But if this was all a figment of her imagination then surely she would have invented a more suitable protector, one who at least liked her, instead of the epiphany of the big bad wolf. Then again if this was all just a psychosis related dream induced by coma, why would she bother inventing a protector at all? After all she was more than capable of taking care of herself, her mom and dad had made sure of that.

  Darla stumbled suddenly feeling sick to her stomach at the overwhelming evidence. There was just a chance that this was all real.

  “Well, are you going to explain to me what Sunny’s is or am I supposed to gain the art of telepathy?” Her fear and uncertainty were now making her feel quite edgy.

  Quinn raised a brow at her open hostility. “It’s a bar.” He replied without slowing their pace.

  “We’re supposed to be in mortal danger and your solution of a hideout is a public bar!” she scoffed sarcastically.

  “Sunny’s isn’t just any bar.” He sneered correcting her. “We need someone to watch our backs. Sunny’s is the best place to find people like that.”

  “Nice place then!”

  “Hey darlin’ don’t knock it, it could mean the difference between you making it through this alive or checking out of here in a body bag, and that’s if you’re lucky.” Seeing her stricken response Quinn felt a pang of guilt. “On the plus side, nothing goes down in Redemption that Sunny doesn’t know about. We need answers and that’s the place to get them.”

  “But if you know that, then won’t the bad guys know it also?”

  “Probably, but it’s a chance we’ll have to take.” Quinn could tell by her silence how worried she really was. “It’ll be okay, I promise you. I won’t let anything happen to you.” Releasing the tight hold on her arm, he laced his fingers with hers, confused by how natural it felt.

  Darla graced him with a timid smile that knotted his stomach and took his breath away. Picking up the pace he hurried them onward eager to get to the bottom of whatever the hell was going on. He really needed Darla Gray as far away from him as possible before the damn woman worked her way any further under his skin.

  Figuring there was no point in further persecuting Quinn for her situation Darla made a conscious decision to work with him to resolve whatever problem it was that she now found herself in. It was more than clear that he wasn’t happy with anything that had happened since rescuing her but at least he hadn’t abandoned her. And if anyone was to blame for the mess she was in it was her. She was after all the one who had jumped!

  Quinn guided her across one of the wider streets in the dark labyrinth before ducking into a tight alley that opened out into a small square with no other exit except for the way they had just come. “We’re here.” He whispered. “Stay close.”

  Checking the shadows for any sign of a threat, both from the ground and above, he pulled her out of the alleyway and hurried across the open square, heading directly for a large wooden barn painted in deep red. With its vast twin doors it resembled a typical farm structure with the exception of a row of windows towards the top of the structure. Each window had not only been blacked out but was covered over with steel bars. A glowing green neon sign hung above the twin doors with the name Sunny’s in bold sprawling letters.

  Quinn took her inside through a small door set into one of the huge twin ones. The substantial size of the interior appeared more intimate by the nature of the décor. The black matt ceiling became a dense mass of undeterminable height with the clever trickery of the ambient lighting. Deep red walls matching those of the exterior were lined with oversized black leather booths offering seclusion and
privacy to all those that desired it and an assortment of table and chairs filled the central space while the back wall was lined with four large pool tables. The overhead suspended lights cleverly lit the room just enough for people to see but threw useful shadows over the booths.

  To the left of the entrance a long highly polished wooden bar ran the length of the entire room flanked by black leather barstools. A mirrored wall behind was decorated with a collection of optics and shelves displaying an overabundance of spirits in bottles of all shapes and colours.

  It was there that Quinn headed, keeping Darla close beside him.

  Only vaguely aware of his enquiry as to the whereabouts of Sunny, Darla tilted her head back as far as it would go in her quest to see exactly how high the ceiling really was wondering why so much height was necessary. Most bars would have utilised the space by adding another floor for extra seating.

  Music filled the room playing an old song that she recognised and despite the unnecessary height of the ceiling she had to admit there was a homely warmth to the place that was welcoming and relaxing.

  An uncomfortable sensation dragged her from her musings. The burning stare of another’s eyes studying her almost as intently as she had been studying the room. Trying not to appear obvious Darla skimmed the room searching for the root of her discomfort. And in the last booth before the pool tables she found the cause.

  One of the most beautiful men she had ever laid eyes on was making no attempt at disguising his interest in her. Dressed from head to toe in black he almost seemed to merge into the booth around him. Had it not been for his long white hair and piercing blue eyes she may easily have passed him over without ever seeing him.

  Realising he now had her full attention, the stranger raked his ridiculously blue eyes the entire length of her body slowly and seductively, silently cataloguing every inch of her with absolute precision before returning to meet her indignant stare.